Taking on difficult scriptures is an essential part of preaching. Get ready to explore those passages you’ve been avoiding with SermonSearch.
Pastors and communicators have a difficult job of coming up with fresh and new content each week. There is no other job like this on planet earth. They have to create the content and then are expected to deliver the content in a world class fashion to their congregation. Because of the wear and tear of the grind of content creation there are many times that communicators avoid difficult passages. It is much easier to preach a topical message at times instead of wrestling with difficult passages. However, if a communicator is going to teach the whole counsel of God and be faithful to the Scriptures then it will cause them to have to unpack difficult passages.
This can become a good way to engage the congregation’s interest in coming to learn. They may have had questions regarding this passage or others like this. Part of the discipleship process is helping the congregation with felt and unfelt needs. Preaching on difficult passages will solve both of those needs.
Here are several passages that are difficult or often misrepresented.
Philippians 4:17-19
Key verse: 19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. NLT
This verse is usually isolated as an unconditional promise of God to all followers of Christ. If the verse is isolated then it will be misrepresented. But when this verse is read in context then it becomes difficult to preach. This is because this passage is where Paul is speaking to the Philippian Believers who supported his ministry. Verse nineteen is not for everyone in the congregation. There for it is also not universal for all Believers. Paul is directly correlating their financial support to a promise that God will supply all their needs. This is not the only time Paul does this. He uses a conditional promise that is tied to the heart of generosity of the Believer in many of his letters.
This makes the passage difficult because Paul conveys that God has this mindset, “If you take care of my Kingdom financially, I will take care of your ‘castle.’” This can upset some Believers who do not feel any desire to financially support the Kingdom of God. But this is a hard truth that is repeated throughout the entirety of Scripture.
2nd Corinthians 9
Key Verse: 11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. NLT
This whole chapter is beautiful to preach in context. Paul speaks deeply on generosity and the idea of God’s conditional provision. Paul talks about the other churches who have given and he also lets the church at Corinth know that there is a principle called, “Sowing and reaping.” This principle was not created by televangelists even though it has been abused. It was a principle Paul shared with the church at Corinth.
This applies to the modern-day Believer in regards to their personal financial generosity towards the Kingdom of God. This is not fun, but it is a necessary part of discipleship.
1st Samuel 27:1-12
Key verse: 8 David and his men spent their time raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—people who had lived near Shur, toward the land of Egypt, since ancient times. 9 David did not leave one person alive in the villages he attacked. He took the sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing before returning home to see King Achish. NLT
Verse nine implies that David killed children as well. This is heinous and sickening. This is also a very difficult passage to preach. David not only killed people but also violated God’s law by raiding or stealing from other villages.
This is very tough at the surface level but it shows us how even God’s greatest men and women have chapters of their lives that they do not want published. This passage also shows us the validity of the Bible. Other religious texts paint their founders as perfect and no one made mistakes. The Bible shows us the realness of humanity and power of God’s pursuit and love through Christ to a humanity who rebels.
John 7:23-24
Key verse: 24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” NLT
Almost everyone has this idea that Christians are not supposed to judge at all. Any opinion or judgment is met with, “Doesn’t the Bible say you shouldn’t judge?” Yes, the Bible says to not judge. And the Bible also tells Believers to judge. John 7:23-24 is a perfect example. Jesus tells His listeners what this judgment should look like. He says, “Look beneath the surface.”
This will be a difficult passage at first because baked into everyone’s common way of thinking is that Christians should never judge anything. But this will be a wonderful passage on discipleship by teaching the listeners how to look beneath to surface so that they can make a fair judgment.
Philippians 4:11-13
Key verse: 13 For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength. NLT
This passage may be the most misquoted on social media than any other. It would be hard to not see a coffee mug, a stitched pillow or a popular athlete quoting this verse. The verse is usually taken completely out of context. The misrepresentation of this verse is, “I am strong in Christ and can do anything that I put my mind to. The possibilities are limitless.” Yes, Christ gives us strength, especially when we are weak. God is referred to as a strong tower many times in the Old Testament. However, this verse has nothing to do with that premise. In context, Paul is showing the Philippian church the paradox of contentment. The paradox of contentment is that contentment is not correlated to possessions, comfort or any other external supply. Contentment, according to Paul, is in Christ alone and Christ will give him the power to be content with much or little.
So, for the modern Believer hearing this message they need to hear that contentment does not rest on what they have or what they don’t have. Contentment only rests by relying fully on Christ. The deconstruction of the “I can do anything through Christ,” is a secondary message. This message can actually be harmful to Believers. A Believer can do what God has called them and ordained them to do. A Believer can face failure, disappointment and suffering when following Christ. They can even find a deep peace and contentment. However, a Believer will not be able to do any and everything. They have limitations personally and God has given everyone a measure of grace with gifts or talents.
The Book of Philemon
Key verse: 6 And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. NLT
Most of the smaller books in the Bible are usually avoided by pastors. There are only a handful of books with one chapter. Philemon is one of them. Philemon is a personal letter from Paul to his friend Philemon. Philemon owns a slave named Onesiphorus. This letter is a plea to Philemon to release him and for Onesiphorus to go back if Philemon will not release him. The whole letter is about doing the right thing even when it is hard. At the surface, this could look like a problematic book to preach but when a communicator sees this common thread it will help the book come to life.
Nehemiah Chapter 3
The book of Nehemiah is usually a fun book to go through and preach. There are many parallels and topics within this book of the Bible. However, most communicators will skip over Nehemiah chapter 3. It is a chapter full of names of people and tribes at the different gates as they rebuild. It looks as if there is nothing to draw a modern principle for the listeners today but it has a very important principle for every local community of faith. This principle is that “everyone has a place on the wall to work.” It is a powerful chapter on everyone being all in with all hands on deck. This can be a wonderful chapter to inspire people to step up to serve .
Communicators will usually choose the easiest passages to preach and avoid the more difficult ones. There are difficult passages that seem like there is no way to bridge the gap between the Biblical audience and the audience of today. It is worth a communicator looking into more difficult passages to challenge their exegetical skills that will also help the congregation think more critically.
